The Island of Dr. Moreau Identity Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)

Quote #4

There was no mistake this time in the quality of the dim broken sounds, no doubt at all of their source; for it was groaning, broken by sobs and gasps of anguish. It was no brute this time. It was a human being in torment! (10.20)

Prendick can connect with the pain and anguish of the puma, and the connection causes him to identify with the puma. Do you think he'd identify just as easily with the puma if he didn't mistake it for a human?

Quote #5

Superficially the contagion of these brute men was upon me, but deep down within me laughter and disgust struggled together. (12.19)

Outer identity and inner identity are not always the same thing. Take this example: on the outside, Prendick becomes one of the Beast Folk by joining in their ceremony. Inside, he's laughing his butt off. Judge not though—we've all been there, right? Feeling one thing while pretending to feel another?

Quote #6

The men aboard ship, [Montgomery] told me, seemed at first just as strange to him as the Beast Men seemed to me,—unnaturally long in the leg, flat in the face, prominent in the forehead, suspicious, dangerous, and coldhearted. (15.10)

Montgomery points out that, sometimes, humans can't identify with each other because of our physical and social differences. This inability to identify causes Montgomery to feel as much of a disconnect towards parts of humanity as Prendick feels towards the Beast Folk society.